An Evening At The Office
by Coral
Summary: Chakotay pays a visit to Admiral Janeway. Co-written with Jo.


An Evening At The Office By Coral & Jo  
  
Disclaimer: Yeah, Paramount owns the lot -- how on earth did you guess?  
Dedication: Jo said it should be for Janeway and Chakotay, and Paramount for mucking up and thereby forcing us to write this. Along the same lines, it should also be for LiveJournal - I started it because of the site being down for maintenance...  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Admiral Kathryn Janeway, formerly Captain of the Intrepid Class Starship Voyager and now languishing idly at Starfleet Command in San Francisco.  
  
Chakotay, standing at the door of said Admiral's office, chuckled to himself as he watched the petite woman who had dozed off on her couch, a PADD on the floor next to her where it had fallen from her hand...  
  
He slowly walked across the room, picking up the PADD and placing it on the desk. Turning to the woman on the sofa, he smiled to himself. She looked so peaceful - a pleasant change to how she had been of late. He reached out and brushed a lock of hair away from her face. She looked just perfect...  
  
He watched her chest rise and fall a few more times, then reluctantly put a hand on her shoulder to gently shake her awake. It was gone ten at night and he had panicked when she hadn't met him earlier that evening as they had planned. They couldn't do much more about socialising tonight, but he could at least escort her home and make sure she went to bed. Kathryn stirred slightly, but showed no sign of waking up. He sighed, wishing he could leave her there, but knowing that her back and neck would be killing her in the morning if he left her like this. Again he shook her gently, and was rewarded with a groan. "Go away," she moaned. He stared at her, taken aback.  
  
Chakotay realised there was only one thing to do. Walking over to the replicator, he requested a cup of the strongest black coffee on file -- unsurprisingly, it turned out to be Kathryn's own blend -- and took it back over to the couch. He waved the cup under her nose whilst repeating his earlier shaking.  
  
The coffee had the desired effect. Kathryn opened her eyes, and grabbed the cup. She gave him a weak smile, before downing the coffee in one go, startling Chakotay. How could she do that? He shook his head, and took the cup which she was handing to him. "I told you not to come and pick me up," she told him, stiffling a yawn.  
  
He sat down beside her, the empty cup in his hand. "You're lucky," he said, "I almost had to literally pick you up and carry you out. And that would have made a dignified sight for the junior officers to see, wouldn't it?" he added teasingly.  
  
She groaned and squeezed her shoulder a few times. "You wouldn't have dared," she said through a yawn.  
  
"You wanna bet?" he asked, smiling wickedly.  
  
"Chakotay, you wouldn't do that!" she exclaimed, but he continued to grin at her.  
  
"Oh yes I would," he laughed as he stood up and scooped her up into his arms.  
  
She cried out, partially surprised, partially indignant. Then she grinned wickedly and hit her combadge. "Janeway to Security..."  
  
"Kathryn Janeway!" he cried out, alarmed. Just then the buzzer on the door sounded, and in his hurry to get out of a potentially embarassing situation for Kathryn, he managed to drop her.  
  
Chakotay looked down at Kathryn, then back at the door. He had forgotten how awfully prompt the security teams were in Starfleet Headquarters until now, and the fact that Kathryn was now crumpled at his feet and apparantly having difficulty moving didn't seem to bode at all well for him. He crouched down, reasoning that he had about ten seconds before security let themselves in, and tried to ignore Kathryn's glares.  
  
"Umm, are you okay?" he asked sheepishly.  
  
"Never been better thanks," she said sarcastically. "What do you think, you big oaf?" Chakotay ran his hand across his forehead, wondering what to do now. "What are you going to do then, Chakotay?"  
  
"How about you tell security they're not needed?"  
  
Too late.  
  
The doors swished open and when Chakotay's gaze turned to the door, he was greeted by the sight of five phaser rifles levelled at him. His heart sank and he looked back at Kathryn, who had started coughing violently when she had tried to turn her head to the door.  
  
"Stand up and back away slowly from her," the largest of the security guards said firmly.  
  
"Kathryn-" Chakotay began imploringly, but the harsh coughs made it impossible for her to speak.  
  
He stepped away as he'd been instructed, wishing he could do something. Just then, Kathryn's hand snaked out, grabbing his leg and pulling him to the floor next to her. Chakotay tried to glare back, but the impish grin on Kathryn's face caused him to laugh instead, and his hands snaked out to start tickling her where he knew she was most sensitive. The not-very-dignified-looking Admiral started to giggle like a schoolgirl and tried pushing him off her, then retaliated with tickles of her own as she found he was too strong for her. Chakotay started to back off at the intial onslaught, but soon had her pinned back on the floor, tickling her mercilessly-  
  
A cough from the doorway recalled the pair to their senses.  
  
Kathryn's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she realised what she'd just done. "Umm, I think there's some mistake here- we don't need security," she said uncharacteristically shyly.  
  
"Yes, we can see that, Ma'am," said one of the security guards as he turned to his colleagues and raised an eyebrow. Kathryn was so mortified she didn't even notice the use of the disliked title.  
  
"It's not what it looks like-" Chakotay began, but the guards had already beaten a hasty retreat and he was talking to thin air. He groaned and buried his head in his hands.  
  
Beside him, her neat hair tousled, Kathryn sighed heavily.  
  
"This is just perfect," she whispered, before moving to get up. "Oww!" she cried out in pain. She'd forgotten about the whole being dropped on the floor thing.  
  
"What, did I do something?" Chakotay leaped up, concerned.  
  
"Yeah, you dropped me on the floor!" she winced, but suddenly started to laugh. "What must those security guards think..."  
  
"Maybe they'll think it was just a bad dream," Chakotay said optimistically as he helped Kathryn to her feet. His gaze took in her flushed face, messy hair and crumpled uniform, and he winced. "This doesn't look good."  
  
Looking at Chakotay, Kathryn had to agree. This was not good for her reputation.  
  
"So, what do we do about this mess?" Chakotay asked her worriedly.  
  
Kathryn tried to take a step forward, but her leg wouldn't support her weight, and the only thing that saved her from collapsing back to the floor was Chakotay's quick catch. She sighed as she leant on him, a frown marring her features. "If you think you can help me back over to the couch without depositing me on the floor, you'd better do so, then get my hairbrush out of the desk drawer. That will at least be a start," she suggested.  
  
He nodded, putting an arm round her back to support her, and led her back to the sofa. He then went to look for the requested hairbrush. As he was searching through the drawer it occurred to him that she didn't seem to be pushing him away, hiding into her shell, which was his previous experience with this sort of encounter.  
  
He found the hairbrush and walked back over to the couch, smiling to himself as he did so. Kathryn reached out to take the brush, but as she moved her arm, she cried out in pain. Not needing to be told, Chakotay sat down beside her and started running the brush through her shoulder length hair himself, savouring the feel of it -- and remembering another night, so long ago now, when he had been able to touch that hair... His firm, rhythmic strokes trailed off as he lost himself in nostalgia.  
  
Kathryn sighed happily as Chakotay brushed her hair. She'd always loved having her hair brushed, but there was something special about Chakotay doing it. She was so lost in thought for a moment that she didn't immediately realise he had stopped. When she did, however, she twisted herself round, gritting her teeth against the pain.  
  
Before she knew what she was even doing... before she could reason with herself or realise properly what was happening... he took her chin in his hand and kissed her gently. She kissed back hungrily; what had been a chaste kiss developing quickly into something more passionate as he responded eagerly. She raised a hand to run her fingers through his hair -  
  
And cried out in agony as a sharp pain shot through her arm, and she fell back onto the cushions, gasping for breath and trying to stop the tears which were springing to her eyes.  
  
"Kathryn!" Chakotay cried, looking down at her with a concerned look in his eyes. He quickly stood up and walked away from her, realising what he'd done was wrong.  
  
"Chakotay," she whispered, still trying to keep the tears at bay. "Don't just walk away from me..."  
  
"Kathryn, I wouldn't walk away from you -- I was afraid... you'd changed your mind..." Chakotay looked down at her again, the frail, lonely woman in front of him.  
  
"Chakotay..." She tried to sit up, but couldn't move for the pain.  
  
Chakotay went back over to her, scooping her up in his arms once more, and placing a light kiss on her forehead. "Let's get you to sickbay. Unless you mind if anyone sees you like this...?"  
  
She shook her head as much as she could without hurting herself, and smiled up at him. "I don't think it will be possible for anyone to get a wrong impression now," she said wryly.  
  
They laughed, and Chakotay strode out of the office towards sickbay, Kathryn falling asleep in his arms... where she knew she felt safe.  
  
END 


End file.
